1.11.2009

Cable news sucks….

Arianna Huffington seems to agree with my judgment (the link comes from Naked Capitalism). She wrote:

Have you heard what's going on with the government's almost trillion-dollar bailout and how your money is being spent? Do you know all you need to know about who's managing all that taxpayer money — and how effectively it's being used?

Not if you're getting your news from cable TV. Judging by where the media are focusing their attention, you'd think the Blago/Burris/Reid and Kennedy/Paterson/Cuomo soap operas are the biggest issues facing the nation — and that little thing about the potential collapse of the world's largest economy is just a sideshow.

Indeed….

It appears that cable news and much of the media mainstream could care less about the pressing questions of the moment, that is, about the problems which will significantly shape the future of this country and the world. They do, however, obsessively ruminate over trivial issues like those mentioned by Huffington. Real journalists provide a stark contrast to this situation. They need to keep in check their cynical impulses in order to effectively describe the bad state of things. They focus on the events and issues which determine the fate of the country and its citizens. Pseudo-journalists, on the other hand, like the majority of those who staff America's major newsrooms are first rank cynics if they are anything. Kitsch and the banal are their stock in trade. If freedom in all its forms did not require the free and public exchange of opinions, then the output of these cynical journalists could be used when making a case for media censorship. But freedom does require the uninhibited and public exchange of opinions. And, more importantly, it requires critical reflection on the sources of contemporary cynicism, not bind tolerance of the cynics and their wares.

No comments: